Heroes and Villains
by shannyfish
Summary: Quentin goes to Palmer Technologies to talk to Felicity about the Arrow (and Sara).


_"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."_

* * *

Life was completely screwed up, the only thing that seemed to be going well in Felicity Smoak's life was her relationship with Ray Palmer and of course, Palmer Technologies. To her, that sort of ended up coupling together. Her life, though, before Ray and before Palmer Tech was just going to crap. She just felt like things were crumbling and no matter how well the company was doing or how much she cared about Ray, none of that would matter if Oliver joined the League of Assassins or the police continued their push to arrest Team Arrow.

They'd already lost Roy.

He wasn't dead, of course, but he had to go away. It almost felt like he'd died because he was basically banished from Starling City (at least for the time being). Then there was trying to get Ray and the ATOM suit to the point where she wasn't having a heart attack every time he went out, at least with Oliver and Diggle…they had training. Ray didn't have any of that, he just had tech and good intentions. Good intentions and good tech only got you so far.

It was late, normally she and Ray would be back at his place, but she'd felt the need to do paperwork and Ray had wanted to check something. So, there she was…at Palmer Technologies. She was just finishing up when a familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Ms. Smoak, do you have a moment?"

She jumped at the sound of Captain Quentin Lance's gruff voice, but relaxed almost immediately. "Are you here to arrest me, Captain?"

"I should."

Felicity sighed. They'd kept their secrets for so long. She had been the one that had been the public face of Team Arrow to Lance for so long now, since before the Undertaking. Back then, he'd seen Oliver (the Hood then) as a vigilante that needed to be put away…as a criminal and murderer. Felicity had hoped that her words to him that night about how she had once seen the Hood as a criminal once, but had changed to see him as a hero had changed Lance's mind…but it hadn't been for long.

"So, just do it," she told him. Felicity just didn't want to fight Lance. He was a front that she had thought she'd never have to face. Since he'd brought up taking the Arrow down and bringing him to justice, Felicity had noticed that he'd seemed to purposely not bring in Laurel or her. She thought that it was because he cared for her. How things were now, Felicity just didn't know anymore.

Good and evil.

Heroes and villains.

Nothing was black and white in their world.

There were hundreds of shades of grey instead.

"You know I don't want to," Lance said. She looked right at him and took a few steps towards him. Her hands held out for him. "Technically, I don't have evidence…unless you want to give it to me? And let's face it, your boyfriend would probably have you out in two seconds." He sighed and pushed her hands down. "Felicity, I don't know if you realize this…but that first time…at the precinct, when I brought you in…before the Undertaking…all I could see was my daughter. Sara." He shook his head, emotions obviously bubbling to the top. "Whenever I look at you, I keep thinking of how Sara might have turned out had she never gone with Oliver Queen on the Queen's Gambit."

"I take that as high praise," Felicity admitted. "But as much as Sara went through…I think she was a better person because of it. She was a hero. She inspired and protected…she was someone that you could be proud of—"

"And I was—"

"And she was my FRIEND," Felicity told him. "I didn't know her long, but she taught me so much… She was like the sister I never had."

"I wish you had known her longer, that she hadn't been killed because of—"

"It wasn't Oliver's fault!" Felicity shouted at him. "Sara CHOOSE that life! She CHOOSE to be with Nyssa, to be with the League! She was a hero and died trying to keep the world safe! You NEED to accept that! Until you do, you're not going to be able to move past it…and every day…a little bit of your soul is going to be eaten away by the hate you carry."

Lance was angrier now. She'd pissed him off and she didn't care, mainly because he was so blind to everything else. The bigger picture of things. He couldn't see past the fact that Sara had been killed and that Laurel had lied to him for so long, keeping it from him for fear that his heart would give out at the news. Felicity didn't agree with what Laurel did, but she understood WHY she'd done it at the same time. Sometimes you just did what you thought was right and hoped for the best. "You don't know what you're talking about—"

"Sara and Roy are DEAD," Felicity said, letting tears fall. "You've decided that the Arrow is a VILLAIN again. You've TAKEN Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins' side." She shook her head. "You and Oliver are a lot alike—"

"That's not true!"

"You know why the city's gone to hell?" Felicity asked. "Because you've lost faith in the Arrow. You're trusting the words of the man who sent out his League in Arrow costumes to destroy the city at large. You're so angry at all the truth that is hitting you right now, that you can't even see straight."

"You want to arrest all of us? To arrest Laurel? Your own daughter? Get us killed by locking us up in prison and letting the world know that we're all Team Arrow?" Felicity asked. She was angry and she was upset. Lance needed to KNOW what he was doing to all of them. "FINE. Do it. Just know that not only will you be still unleashing the League on Starling City. Ra's al Ghul is doing ALL of this to FORCE Oliver into becoming his heir and you're making it easy for him." She shook her head and just stared at him. "Do you REALLY think that that's something that Sara would have wanted?"

"Sara—"

"Sara was ONE of us," Felicity reminded. "She saw the GOOD in Oliver. He showed her that there could be another way. That she didn't need to be a killer. If you do this, you're dishonoring her memory…not US."

Lance just stared at her.

"Captain Lance? I didn't expect you here so la-ate…do we have a problem?" Ray asked as he walked into the office. His smile faded almost immediately and then his face morphed to concern.

Felicity just stared back at Lance, waiting. The ball was in his court.

"No," Lance finally responded. His face screwed up with frustration before he turned and headed out. He stopped at the door and turned back to her. "You know… You and I might not have gotten to spent a lot of time with Sara over the last year or so, but I'm pretty positive that she thought of you as a sister, for what it's worth." He didn't wait for her to say anything in return or to really even process his words. With that, he was gone.

Ray still looked concerned. "What was that all about?"

"I'm not even sure…" Felicity admitted.

"Are you okay?"

"No," she said sadly and it was the truth.

Ray closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, holding her in a tight hug before dropping a kiss on her head. He kept one arm around her. "Let's get out of here."

And that's all she wanted right now.

* * *

The End.


End file.
